The present invention relates to a method of transmitting an acknowledgement to an A subscriber in a telephone system in connection with call establishment. The invention further relates to a telephone system comprising subscriber stations and means for establishing a call between the subscriber stations of the system. Moreover, the invention further relates to a subscriber station of a telephone system comprising a user interface, indication means for indicating a call associated with a terminating call, and means for establishing a connection with another party to the terminating call in response to procedures performed by the user via the user interface.
The invention relates to transmission of information between the subscriber stations participating in the call establishment. It is to be noted that the invention can also be applied in a fixed telephone network although it is described by way of example with reference to a mobile telephone system.
In the known telephone systems, a B subscriber has an extremely limited number of options to choose from when he or she is unable to answer his or her ringing telephone. In such a situation, a subscriber in a GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) system, for example, can interrupt a call via a key in the telephone (UDUB, User Determined User Busy) or, alternatively, wait for the A subscriber to interrupt the call or for the call to be forwarded to the B subscriber""s answering machine (CFNRy, Call Forwarding on No Reply).
The options described above provided by known telephone systems for the use of the B subscriber fail to be sufficient in all situations. If, for example, the B subscriber is willing to answer a call but he or she is unable to do it immediately but only in a little while, the call may already have been connected to an answering machine or the A subscriber may already have interrupted the call before the B subscriber has had the time to answer.
In the known telephone systems, an A-subscriber-identifier may be transmitted to the B subscriber in connection with a terminating call, whereby the B subscriber can see on the display device in his or her telephone who is trying to call him or her. In the known telephone systems, however, the B subscriber is unable to indicate to the A subscriber that he or she has noticed the call but that he or she has no time to answer it at that particular moment.
An object of the present invention is to solve the problems described above related to the known telephone systems and improve the user-friendliness of the known telephone systems by increasing transmission efficiency of information between the parties to call establishment. This object is achieved by the method of the invention, which is characterized by arranging in the system communication means for transmitting a predetermined acknowledgement message, receiving from the A subscriber a call associated with a terminating call and activating via a user interface of a subscriber station the communication means to transmit said acknowledgement message to the A subscriber in connection with the call establishment of the terminating call.
The invention further relates to a telephone system in which the method of the invention can be applied. The telephone system of the invention is characterized in that the system comprises: at least one subscriber station comprising means for activating a predetermined acknowledgement sequence in connection with the call establishment of a terminating call in response to procedures performed by a user of the subscriber station via a user interface, and communication means responsive to the activation of the acknowledgement sequence for transmitting a predetermined acknowledgement message to another party to the call establishment.
Moreover, the invention further relates to a subscriber station of a telephone system by which the method of the invention can be applied and which is suited for use in the telephone system of the invention. The subscriber station of the invention is characterized in that the user interface of the subscriber station comprises means for activating a predetermined acknowledgement sequence in connection with the call establishment of the terminating call in response to procedures performed by the user via the user interface, which acknowledgement sequence activates the transmission of a predetermined acknowledgement message to the other party to the call establishment.
The invention is based on the idea that the user-friendliness of the telephone system increases significantly when the user interfaces of the subscriber stations are equipped with means via which the B subscriber can activate an acknowledgement sequence, which makes the subscriber station of the B subscriber or one of the network elements of the system to transmit a predetermined acknowledgement message to the A subscriber in connection with the call establishment.
The use of the mobile telephone is provided with an opportunity to indicate to the A subscriber that he or she will answer the call for example by arranging a key in the keypad of a mobile telephone and pressing the key in connection with a terminating call when a text message xe2x80x9cPlease wait, I""ll answer shortlyxe2x80x9d which is stored in the memory of the telephone is transmitted to the A subscriber. This is particularly useful if, at the particular moment, the B subscriber happens to be somewhere (at a meeting, for example) where it is extremely inconvenient to talk. The user of the mobile telephone can also be provided with the opportunity, to scan the messages stored in the memory manually and select the most suitable message to be transmitted.
Alternatively, the telephone can be provided with a key, and to press this key in connection with the call establishment results in the transmission of a voice notification stored in the telephone exchange or a network element located in connection with it to the A subscriber. If the telephone of the B subscriber and the telephone system in question are able to transmit the A-subscriber-identifier to the display of the B subscriber""s telephone so as to enable the B subscriber to identify who is trying to call him or her, the voice notification in question can notify the A subscriber that xe2x80x9cI""ve noticed your call attempt, but I""m unable to answer at the moment, I""ll call you back shortlyxe2x80x9d, for example.
A preferred embodiment of the method in accordance with the invention is characterized by arranging in the system communication means for transmitting a predetermined acknowledgement message, and activating via the user interface of a subscriber station the communication means to transmit said acknowledgement message to the A subscriber in response to the reception of a call associated with a terminating call. In this preferred embodiment of the method in accordance with the invention, the user of the telephone can in advance store a desired message, for example xe2x80x9cI""m at a meeting till noonxe2x80x9d and activate the communication means to transmit the message automatically to all A subscribers calling him or her.
The most significant advantages of the solution of the invention are improved user-friendliness and a higher probability that a call attempt will succeed.
The preferred embodiments of the method, telephone system and subscriber station are disclosed in the attached dependent claims 2, 4 to 8 and 10 and 11.